Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/121

 said that the method adopted was in accordance with the practice previously in vogue during the civil administration of the Mughuls, and that the English Government had not directly enjoined this mode of procedure. But this is not a sound plea. Government may not directly have told the revenue officers to be so relentless; but it virtually did so when it ordered its subordinates to see that the rents collected did not fall short even by a kauri.

The East India Company, and their myrmidons in the country, remained quite indifferent to the interests of their subjects. These, again, did not regard them in any other light than that of foreigners who had come to enrich themselves at their expense. The people also doubted the stability of their rule; for it was a matter of doubt if they could get the better of the mighty opposition received from different sides. There were the Nawabs, the Mahrattas, the Burmese, all arrayed to contend for supremacy with the English. There were bands of rebels, too, in Bishnupur and Birbhum, places close to Calcutta. But this state of things soon passed away; and the English at last became the undisputed masters of the country. The people on this became more mindful of their duties to their new rulers; and the latter, in their turn, came to understand their new responsibilities. There grew up a sympathy between conquerors and the conquered, who now desired to win the good will of each other; and in this state of mind, the important question that the rulers were called upon to decide was whether, in governing the country, they should follow the plan of administration still extant, or introduce a new and reformed system. The ruled also had to work out the problem whether it was expedient for them to remain staunch Conservatives, or to hail the changes the new Government might effect. It took the parties twenty years, the period between 1825 and 1845, to come to a decision