Page:A Brief History of the Indian Peoples.djvu/232

228 he was entrusted with the duty of controlling the Governments of Madras and Bombay, so far as regarded questions of peace and war: a Supreme Court of Judicature was appointed at Calcutta, to which the judges were nominated by the Crown; and a power of making rules and regulations was conferred upon the Governor-General and his Council. Next came the India Bill of Pitt (1784), which founded the Board of Control in England; strengthened the supremacy of Bengal over the other Presidencies; and first authorized the historic phrase, 'Governor-General-in-Council.'

Renewals of the Company's Charter, 1813-1853.—The renewed charter of 181 3 abolished the Company's monopoly of Indian trade, and compelled it to direct its energies to the good government of the people. The Act of 1833, at the next renewal of the Company's charter for another twenty years, did away with its remaining trade to China. It also introduced successive reforms into the constitution of the Indian Government. It added to the Council a new (legal) member, who need not be chosen from among the Company's servants, and who was at first entitled to be present only at meetings for making laws and regulations; it accorded the authority of Acts of Parliament to the laws and regulations so made, subject to the disallowance of the Court of Directors; it appointed a Law Commission; and it finally gave to the Governor-General-in-Council a control over the other Presidencies, in all points relating to the civil or military administration. The charter of the Company was renewed for the last time in 1853, not for a definite period of years, but only for so long as Parliament should see fit. On this occasion the number of Directors was reduced, and their patronage as regards appointments to the civil service was taken away, to make room for the principle of open competition.

India transferred to the Crown, 1858.—The Act for the Better Government of India (1858), which finally transferred the administration from the Company to the Crown, was not passed without an eloquent protest from the Directors, nor without bitter party discussions in Parliament. It enacted that India shall be governed by, and in the name of, the Queen of