India

The role of the EIC and the governor general:

• Parliament passed acts to ensure financial solvency of Company; extending their control over it, acted as a regularised subsidiary of the Crown.
• Charter Act 1813- government renewed Company's charter for another 20years but removed its monopoly on Indian trade (bar tea with China).
• EIC more involved in civil administration + tax collection of British territories in India.
• Collapse of Mugal Empire= EIC acted as a self-funding agent of imperialism for the Gov.
• Aggressive territorial acquisition- annexations from 1829-57, control had been extended from the 3 presidencies and included the NE and NW provinces; all governed and administered by EIC.

The East India Company:

• 3 private armies with the company presidencies (Bengal, Madras + Bombay), to support local trading interests and support its local collaborators.
• Private fortunes made by Company nabobs, led to corruption so the Regulating Act 1773 created a governing council, the majority being parliamentary.

• 1784 act made EIC subordinate to the Crown, Board of Control set up to achieve this.
• 1786 act enabled the governor general's executive power by overiding his council (appointments, although nominated by company, were at Crown's discretion).
• Parliament renewed their charter in 1813/33- but reduced + ended their commercial monopoly on trade (political doctrine on free trade altered relationship between Parliament + EIC).
• Charter act 1813: ended monopoly on trade bar tea, education for Indians, missionaries permitted to preach and teach English in company territories.
• 1833 act ended commercial activities, reorganised administrative system of British territories.
• EIC's function went from commerce to administration= British reps saw themselves as rulers.
• Now more focused on tax collection and local administration.
• Company able to produce large private armies= role as tax collector.
• Local rulers allied with British to ensure protection from other rulers and to ensure smooth collection of taxes from their subjects.

The role of the governor:

• Position of governor under ultimate control of the Crown from 1773.
• Initially, presidents of EIC territory couldn't make war/accept peace from a prince without the governors approval in Fort William, Bengal.
• 1784 India Act strengthened the executive power of the governor.
• Supplementary act 1786 enabled them to overide their council if deemed necessary.
• Cornwallis (1st governor with these new powers); commander-in-chief of military forces.
• Bengal governor controlled foreign policy= so all the India legislation passed between 1774/84, gov regulation + control was extended over the EIC.
• Centralisation of power= Bengali governor pre-eminent over other 2 presidencies.
• 1833 (Gov of India Act)= govenor general of Fort William now concurrent gov general of India.
• New gov general= Bentinck (responsible for foreign policy of territories + administration, legislative control over Company's territory).
• Bentinck= utalitarianism (greatest happiness for the greatest number).
• Role of governor changed from the co-ordination of treaties w/local rulers to the administration/legislation of all territory under British control.

The importance of Bengal and the Company Army:

• White or sepoy regiments within armies; under command of EU officers.
• Bengali army traditionally recruited from the highest castes (Brahmins/Rajputs).
• Armies ensured local rulers signed treaties with the Company= protection, superiority.
• Collected tax and took on administration roles; territory increased due to professionalism.
• Increased focus on training= Company's change in focus to civil administration (not purely a commercial company anymore).
• 1830s= wanted to subdue the NW frontier; fear of Russian invasion.
• First Afghan war cost British India 20,000 lives + £15million; made Company determied to secure the Sind + Punjab in compensatory conquest.
• Sind formally annexed in 1843, Punjab controlled by 1849.
• Punjabi soldiers bitter towards native sepoys of Bengali company; company exploited local tensions to expand presence in the subcontinent.

Bengal:

• Most important presidency in the Company; president was the governor general of all the territory controlled by the EIC (after Gov of India act 1833).
• Cornwallis developed its administrative structure; land divided into districts under a collector + landholders had rights to land for fixed tax liabilities.
• Legal administration exacted by local judges/magistrates.
• Had a bigger private army; recruited from higher castes (sensitive to anything polluting caste).
• Sepoys of Bengali army were recruited from other provincs (Awadh).
• Pivotal role in annexation of Punjab + the emnity of Sikhs towards the sepoys was part of the explanation for British survival during the rebellion 1857.

• Racial superiority; company operators less tolerant of local cutoms + religions, seeked to change societies they now governed due to disintegration of Mughal Empire.
• Sought to modernise India; cultural superiority emerged in company staff (paternalistic desire to change and improve Indians).
• Racial harmony disrupted by growth of Evangelical Christianity + arrival of British women.
• Christians campaigned for abolition of slavery, as saw other religions as inferior.
• Missionaries tried to convert Muslims/Hindus/Sikhs/Buddhists= destabilised social systems.
• Cultural division between company employees + Indians with arrival of women; race divisons were fixed as racial intermingling became taboo.
• Tensions built and led to rebellion; end of company rule + establishment of British Raj.
• British challenged religious + social structures = mutiny broke out in Bengali army 1857 so different social groups were inspired to raise own rebellion.
• Dalhousie + Bentinck (utalitarianism) instituted civil reform as company was focused on modernisation.
• Bentinck- abolisged thagi + sati, allocated company funds for education to only English-speaking institutions, English official new language of Gov.
• Dalhousie- impatient with social structures and inefficiency of princely states.

Sleeman's campaign against thagi:

• Thagi= highway robbery/ritual murder, from 1836-48 legal acts passed outlawing thagi + dacoity, the suppression of thagi was an attempt to modernise India.
• Campaign led by Sleeman in 1835; Thugge + Dacoity department created.
• 1,000 thagi transported/hanged for crimes + 3,000 tried/punished.
• Action against thagi led to British self-congratulation as the thagi only attacked other Indians.
• Thagi activity more prevalent in central/Northern India; acted in small bands.
• Sleeman's involvement in its supression= seen as a true imperial hero in Britain.
• Accepted and welcomed by Indians at the time.

Drive against sati and female infanticide:

• Act of Abolition 1829 against sati (tradition of self-immolation by Hindu widows on funeral pyres of husbands), reflected Hindu beliefs in sanctity of marriage bond.
• Common among higher castes; common in Bengal presidency.
• 1829; campaign by Evangelicals like Wilberforce and Bentinck= abolished sati.

• British company officials disliked it but didn't act on abolishing it; personal agenda of Bentinck made the aboliton happen earlier.
• Company banned it in Calcutta in 1798 + Wilberforce forced amendment to the charter act to allow missionaries to preach against sati/Hindu practices.
• Ram Mohan Roy (Hindu religious philosopher) began campaign against it in 1818; supported Bentinck against efforts made to reverse the law by Privy council.
• Law only applied to territory under company but many princely states followed.
• Most sati that continued occured in Punjab, until it came under British control.
• Outlawed in India by 1861; higher-caste Indians saw it as an attack on caste purity + presumption of cultural superiority.
• Bentinck's efforts improved Indian women's lives.
• Contributed to discontent towards British rule; intervention in religous/cultural beliefs.

The impact of missionaries:

• Many company officials opposed them; avoid further trouble in territory they controlled.
• 1st missionaries arrived in Bengal; banned from Calcutta + forced to settle in Danish territory.
• The Baptist mission concentrated on education and translation of the Bible into Bengali.
• Wilberforce forced amendment to charter act 1813; blanket ban on missionaries removed, Protestant missionaries arrived in increasing numbers in India.
• Anglicans + Baptists engaged in educating Indians and campaigned against sati.
• 1830; Alexander Duff arrived in Bengal + promoted English teaching in schools (attract higher caste Hindus to Christianity, naturally convince them of Christianity's superiority).
• Contributed towards the debate on allocation of company funding for higher education for Indians.
• Evangelicals in favour; new educated class would weaken dominance of Brahmin caste.
• Evangelical pressure led to Education act 1835 and English the offfical language of Gov.
• Stimualted Bengal Renaissance; Indian social reform movement.
• Added to undercurrents of oppostion that company officials faced with taxing territories and added to complex social mix.

Dalhousie's reforms:

• Responsible for ending company rule due to reckless policies (gov general 1848-56).
• Moderniser/utalitarian- 1st railroads + telegraph line built + Penny post introduced.
• By assuming British paramountcy, first condition=stated that British would/should intervene in the affairs of a native state (saw no reason to continue alliances with princely states).
• Under the Doctrine of Lapse, state passed directly into British control (conflict w/Hindu law).
• 2nd condition for interference= misgovernment of state.
• 3rd condition= redefinition of ruler's titles and powers as non-hereditary.

The annexation of Awadh 1856:

• Occured under the doctrine of lapse; primary cause of rebellion, Dalhousie's worst error.
• Awadh was a prosperous province, would benefit company to control= was the 7th annexation to occur under the new Dalhousie policy.
• Resented in Awadh (traditional recruiting ground of sepoys of Bengali army).
• British announced that land would be taken from all landowners unable to prove legal title.
• Attack on established social order= destabilising, started uprising.

Outbreak of rebellion + events in Meerut:

• Rumours amongst Sepoys that new cartridges were lubricated w/animal fat= Hindu's + Muslim's at risk of defilement.
• Seemed to prove plan of Christianisation, ignited resentments against missionaries, interference in religious practices, English as official language + upheaval to the pattern of rural landownership in Awadh.
• Bengal army already uneasy due to General Service Enlistment Act 1856.
• Only applied to new recruits, Sepoys feared that they too would have to serve abroad (very contentious issue as recruitment drew from higher caste Hindus).
• Following court martial of 85 sepoys for refusing to load new rifles in May 1857, all 3 sepoy regiments rose rebelled, massacred all local Europeans (women and children included).

Cawnpore and Delhi:

• Mutiny spread rapidly throughout the rest of the Bengal army.
• British temporarily lost control of Awadh, Delhi + some centres within Punjab.
• In Awadh, discontended talukdars (landowners) joined with family of sepoys in Bengali army.
• Peasants began uprising (angry about changing land structures/excessive taxes).
• Rani of Jhansi was a head of an anti-British force (symbol of nationalist resistance to British).
• In Cawnpore, British had to surrender, promised safe conduct in boats but during transfer, 400 killed, the rest were massacred the day before relief arrived.

Siege + relief of Lucknow:

• Lucknow= enduring symbol of British resistance.
• Held out against attack under Lawrence the Governor for 5 months.
• 1st relief reached Lucknow, 87 days after the siege began.
• Couldn't immediately evacuate= remained there as buried stores were found.
• 2nd relief led by Campbell (conscious of stretched supply lines) so evacuated/abandoned it.

Reasons why the British retained control:

• Rebels weren't a cohesive force; mutineers, Awadh landowners, oppressed peasants, local leaders unwilling to co-operate together to forge a national revolt.
• Awadh closest to representing a unified challenge from all social levels due to British actions there + their familial links to mutineering sepoys in the Bengali army.
• Other 2 presidency armies remained loyal to Britian, area around Calcutta unaffected.
• Punjabi sepoys held a grudge against Bengali sepoys.
• Able to exploit local religious + political divisions= continued survival after mutiny.
• Competiting rebel blocks unable to forget differences to unify against the British, the alliances between British + local allies sometimes proved enduring.
• British rule remained acceptable due to their record and local support ensured their continuing presence; Company taxes better than local alternative on offer.

Results of the rebellion:

• Punishment of rebels; entire villages massacred, Cawnpore mutineers forced to lick blood off buildings, eat pork/beef and then hanged. Strapped to canons + killed. Slaughtered + killed.
• Lessons drawn from London; creaky machinery of Company + its presidency armies were to blame for the crisis.

End of company rule:

• Government of India act 1858 ended company rule; now ruled directly by Britain through a viceroy who was accountable to parliament.
• Royal proclamation issued; promised religious toleration, equal protection under the law and the rights of native princes to their lands were protected.
• Annexation of territory ceased and princes now collaborators.
• In Awadh, accomodation made with the talukdars= steered clear of land reform which challenged feudal ties.
• Debt of rebellion transferred to the new Raj; taxation system revamped (income tax on wealthier urban groups).

• Officials continued to proselytise out of official policy as they couldnt prevent missionary activity; moves against religious customs were taken with extreme caution.
• Laws on Sati and female infanticide remained; 1891 marrige age raised from 10 to 12.
• Evangelicals unbeknowgst to their role in mutiny; London Missionary society send 20 more.
• Racial prejudice, segregation + racial hatred grew amongst white imperialists.
• Mutiny meant withdrawing into a tight enclave, Indian nationalism grew and more liberal policies from Britain= cycle repeated.

Changes to the Indian army:

• Indian sepoys reduced by 40%, British increased by 50%.
• Recruitment switched from the Brahmin + Rajput Hindu castes to areas deemed more loyal.
• Adjacent regiments had different ethnic backgrounds to prevent spread of mutiny; sepoys were to come from different geographical areas and ethnicities (could use whatever grease).

Longer-term lessons of the rebellion:

• Modernising agenda of Bentinck + Macaulay misjudged; stemmed from cultural superiority.
• Modernisation sprang from utilitarianism; believed that if they adopted Christianity and received Western education, they'd be ready for democratic self-government.
• Attitudes of British imperialists were no longer self-confident which characterised the modernising agenda of the pre-rebellion British in India= policy now more pragmatic.
• Still wanted India for wealth but less inclined to educate or develop Indian society.
• Alliance with conservative forces in princely states upheld, focus on infrastructure and railways.
• Avoided famine to keep natives content, officials saw themselves as taking up the "white man's burden".