Lord William Cavendish Bentinck is generally considered as an out-standing figure in the annals of British Rule in India. He occupies a significant place especially among the Governors-General of the Pre-1857 period. He has been invariably applauded by the British, and many a Indian historian alike, as a renowned liberal statesman of his times. It is asserted that he was influenced by the liberal philosophy of Mill and Bentham, which was then in vogue in England and endeavoured to translate this liberalism into practice during his tenure as a Governor-General. It is also emphatically asserted that due to his liberal administrative measures he stands apart from his predecessors like Cornwallis, Wellesley and Lord Hastings, and his successors as Auckland and Dalhousie, whose only concern was to subserve the East India Company's interests in India. Some historians have placed him on one plank with the great reformist Governor-General, Lord Ripon. His contemporary Lord Macaulay has raised him to the pinnacle of glory as a liberal ruler, by writing on the plaque of his statue erected by men of "different races, language and religion", out of "veneration and gratitude to the memory of his "wise, reforming and paternal administration".
Apparently, this view is borne out by some of the administrative measures of Lord Bentinck, which indeed benefitted the Indian subjects. If his abolition of the inhuman Sati Custom, his measures for suppression of Thugs and the introduction of English education in India indeed support his liberal image, the absence of large scale war during his tenure leads to delineating him as a peace-loving ruler. It is on this basis that historians generally present him as "a great benefactor of India and an apostle of peace".
However, this commonly projected image of Lord William Bentinck does not appear to be in consonance with the policy of mercantile colonialism adopted by the English East India Company in India. Since the sole object of the Company's Government of India was to bold India in total subjection with a view to promote British interests, it seems unbelievable that Bentinck acted on a purely liberal impulse to promote the welfare of the subject race. Moreover, he does not appear to have developed any conflict with the Home authorities due to his liberal reforms in India, as it happened during the tenure of Lord Ripon. Therefore, it is reasonable to deduce that there must be some secret underlying motives behind his so-called reforms. It is revealing to note the observation of one of his contemporaries, Sir Fredrick Shore, that "his good intentions were never to interfere with the main principle of British Indian Government that is-profit to themselves and their masters at the expense of the Indian People". Major Basu the Indian historian has gone a step further by commenting that, "every political and administrative measure that he carried out in India was for their benefit and was calculated to do harm to the natives of the soil".
Such extremely varied views, one like that of Macaulay, painting Bentinck as a great reformist Governor-General, and the other like that of Shore and Basu, raise some basic pertinent questions relating to Bentinck: First, whether he was really liberal by faith and conviction, or whether his liberalism was just a fashion of the day; secondly, whether his liberalism was limited to British politics or whether it was extended to Indian administration as well; and thirdly, whether his so-called reforms were honestly intended to improve the lot of the Indian subjects or whether the benefits derived by the Indians from his administrative measures were simply incidental. It is not improbable that he was impressed by and appreciated the liberal thought then current in England; but the moot point is whether that liberal faith was the motivating factor as a ruler of India. To find answers to these questions, it is imperative to study critically the conditions and motives which actuated his so-called reformist measures.
This research work is an attempt to find answers to the above raised questions. It aims at studying the administrative tenure of Lord Bentinck in its correct historical perspective. It is intended to critically examine his administrative measures in the context of the social, political, economic and intellectual forces, currents and cross currents which were operating both in England and India at the time of Bentinck, the real objectives and basic politics of his masters in London, together with his own political views and philosophy, if any, the early ideological influences during his formative years and his early career. Such a study alone can bring to light the underlying motives of Bentinck in adopting an apparently reformist stance.
In this thesis, therefore, an attempt is made to make an indepth and objective reappraisal of Lord Bentinck's Indian administration.
All aspects of his internal administration and his policy towards the Indian States constitutes the subject matter of this work. His foreign policy-policy towards the neighbouring states-does not form a part of this study.
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