Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/15

 LORD AUCKLAND

CHAPTER I

Introductory

When Lord William Bentinck sailed down the Húglí in March, 1835, the post he had filled so beneficently for seven years fell for a time to the charge of his second-in-council, the genial and large-minded Sir Charles Metcalfe, who had been trained under Lord Wellesley in the best school of Anglo-Indian statesmanship, had since helped to mould the policy of one Native Court after another, and had finally borne a leading part in all the great measures of Bentinck's government.

It was only as provisional Governor-General that Metcalfe held a post once filled by Warren Hastings and Sir John Shore, both like him civil servants of the East India Company. Had the Court of Directors been allowed their own way, the provisional tenure would have been made permanent. They had already declared in effect that no other man than Metcalfe could be trusted to carry on the reforming process which Bentinck with his aid had set on foot. But the