Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/37

Chronologically Lord Amherst's administration is singularly well placed for the purpose of comparison. Just half a century had elapsed since the East India Company determined to 'stand forth as Dewan,' and the direct management of the revenue in the districts which then were entrusted to their care passed from the hands of the native officials to those of English 'collectors.' It was about a quarter of a century since the great reforms of Lord Cornwallis placed the administration of Bengal, Behar and Orissa on the basis which has never been abandoned, and which with necessary modifications was adopted for the government of the territories successively occupied as the pillars of the Company's domain were pushed on towards the north and the setting sun. It happens, too, that the term with which we have to do lies almost midway between the installation of Lord Elgin as Viceroy of the Indian Empire of 1893 and the original grant which converted the Company from a trading association into concessionnaires of sovereign rights over a vast tract more populous and more fertile than most European kingdoms. The phases of development coincide, we think, with the divisions into which time has been mapped. It would not be inaccurate to describe the period before Lord Amherst's arrival at Government House, as one of struggle and acquisition, and that which ensued as one of possession and of organization. Vast indeed had been the change in the character of the men by whom the affairs of the people of India were managed,